Lanzarote, part eleven - TIMANFAYA & Los Hervidoros.

PART ELEVEN.

Today was one of the highlights of this holiday. This, according to everyone we’ve spoken to that’s been here, is the number one MUST DO on Lanzarote!

We’d planned to come here earlier in the week, but delayed it because the conditions weren't right. It had been VERY windy on the day we’d planned to come (reinforced by some other hotel guests who said they went that day, and could hardly stand up).

Anyway, today was PERFECT, with hot sunshine, clear skies and good visibility.

Time to go volcanic!

Don't forget, you can click on any of the pictures for a larger version or slide show.

The road to Timanfaya National Park is, as you would expect, very ‘moon-like’, and edged with vicious-looking sharp volcanic rock.

I would love to know just HOW they build roads over this stuff – can there BE an easy way????

Manrique’s entrance sign to the park.

We had been warned to go as early as we could, as it gets really busy with coach trips after about 9:30, so here we were at about nine o’clock, ready to see the sights.

‘Montanas del fuego’ – mountains of fire.

Very dramatic, or very drab? This place would be different things to different people. Sue & I love it.

Yes, we love and live among greenery at home, but it’s good to see the other side of nature sometimes.

Stark and harsh, there’s very little to support life here.

We arrived at the visitor centre, and walked straight on to a coach. Cars are not allowed in the park, so everyone has to go on the guided coach tour, which winds around the park, sometimes on impossibly sharp bends and narrow ‘roads’, stopping here and there at points of interest. We’re not really ones for ‘guided tours’, but in this instance, there was no choice.

Some of the youngest (and still active) parts of the island are here at Timanfaya.

You can read up on it HERE

How would YOU feel – this is the coach drivers view of the ‘road’ ahead!!!

Again, you have to wonder – HOW?????

Another coach on the far side wends it’s way around the park, like some sort of bizarre theme park ride.

All around, all you see is one volcano after another. This was (and, in places, still is) one very turbulent place.

Huge volcanic gorges edged the road as we continued.

This was the only life we saw really, a green, scrubby plant on the slopes.

No wonder they tested moon vehicles here, and made films too.

“Right, you lot – BREATHE IN!!!”

It looks like the top of that mountain was just blown apart.

After the trip on the coach, it was time for the show. Two bored-looking guys (who could blame them, they had probably done this thousands of times) did the ‘tricks’.

The first one placed a pile of brushwood in a hole.

Within a few seconds, it started smoking, then burst into flames.

(cue ‘oooo’s’ and ‘ahhh’s’)

See the video, click HERE

This guy was particularly officious and surly, but his trick was good.

Just pour a little water down the hole, and........

WHOOOOOSH!!!!

It came back two seconds later as a roaring jet of steam.

Watch the video HERE ( and note ‘Mr Grumpy’ always looking for the next poor tourist to tell off)

In the impressive visitor centre, they had a grill set up over a ‘hot hole’. All this raw food was cooked by the time we had done the tour, all by the heat rising from the bowels of the earth .

The centrepiece in the restaurant, sort of pan-like?

Another Manrique, I think.

At the end of our tour, which lasted about 45 minutes, we could see what we were told, coming true.
 Now HOARDS of people were arriving, and there were long queues for the tour coaches.

Posing by the sign.

The centre was built around the remains of a tree.

Like the park, simple, stark, but hugely impressive.

The restaurant looked like it could seat a LOT of people, and was probably just there to cater for arranged trips, as it didn’t seem to be open for us.

Before we left, we just had to get THE photo.

On the way back, we saw the sign to ‘Los Hervideros’, which means ‘boiling pots’, and decided to side-track to take a look.

Quite a bit of action in the sea, but NOWHERE NEAR as much as the other day.

That’s where we made a mistake, this place would be ten times more exciting on that sort of rough day, and that is when we SHOULD have come here!

This is how it might have looked – a photo taken from the web.

Ah well, another time maybe, but it was still good today.

The volcanic holes allowed the waves in, then, as they smashed against the walls, directed them upwards in a plume of spray.

People were all around at vantage points, trying to get a good picture.

Tomorrow was set very fair and warm, so we intended to use the car & go for a beach day at Papagayo.

Snorkeling and relaxing would be the order of the day.

Lanzarote, part nine - La Geria wines and WILD waves.

PART NINE.

After the Manrique foundation, we decided it was time for a drink (well, to have some small samples of the local vino, maybe buy a bottle or two), so we headed for La Geria, the wine region of Lanzarote.

We knew we’d found it by this incongruous marker :-)

We’ve NEVER seen vineyards like THIS!! How many man-hours it must have taken to build all the walls, wells and harbours, is mind boggling. I must admit though, they DO look amazing, and seem to protect the vines from the almost constant wind here.

The first one we came to, ‘La Florida’ bodega, looked quite classy.

Everything neat and tidy, with bits of winery paraphernalia in the yards.

And this incredible piece of kit sticking through the wall.

A wine press, we imagined? (And a nice table and stools)

AHA! Inside it became obvious how it worked.

This place is super-neat inside AND out. One of the more ‘up-market’ bodegas.

 Like something from another planet, the vine harbours cover the hillside.

IMAGINE the man hours to do this lot? It reminds me of the stone walls in the Peak District.

This next bodega did the famous goats cheese and meat tapas, so we called in.

Inside it was VERY rustic, not ultra-modern. like La Florida.

There were two Germans there when we arrived, but after they left we were alone.

We weren’t very hungry, but felt we just HAD to try this cheese, accompanied by a glass of the local wine here.

The bodegas charged four euros each for wine tasting. To be honest, I can see why. After tasting, I couldn’t find ONE I liked enough to buy a bottle. Lanzarote wine isn’t what I’d call nice! Sorry, but it really is terribly mediocre and has not got any ‘mmmm’ factor about it. No wonder all the hotels and restaurants ‘house’ wines are from the mainland (usually Portugal).

We tried one last bodega, just to be sure. This one was the most rustic (and yes, the wine was awful again)

It looks like a hard life here, very hard!

 It was time to move on. Today had been a bit wild, wind-wise, but very warm and pleasant. Ideal for touring. We made our way towards our next goal, El Golfo, to see the green lagoon we’d heard so much about.

On the way, we drove past Salinas de Janubio (the salt flats of old) and saw these AMAZING seas!! We just couldn’t resist pulling onto a small car park and getting out to see it first hand and close up.

You can read up more about the salt flats here;

click HERE

Anyway – out of the car, the seas were even more wild!

See the scene as we pulled up in the car, click here;

 Click HERE

The crashing sound was great. Sue and I just LOVE wild weather, and particularly when it involves the sea. We loved it at the lighthouse when we hired the bikes, but these seas were FAR more dramatic.

This picture doesn’t do it justice.

But THIS one does!!

We had to be careful, as the waves were really unpredictable. You wouldn’t dare turn your back on them.

Even though we were high up the beach, and the waves were (mostly) breaking much lower down the steep slope, every now and then, there was a BIG one.

And it COULD catch you out;

Click HERE

The spume off the wave crests was some of the best I’ve seen too.

That’s Sue on the (relative) safety of a bar of rock that ran for about a third of the beach.

You know that odd wave I was talking about?

This couple got caught, as one broke right up to, and over, the top of the beach slope.

See the raw wildness click HERE

  

Look how THIS wave almost reached me too.

You can see the steep angle of the beach on this shot, but it didn’t stop some of the rollers from climbing it.

Ready to run from the advancing wave!

In this one, it almost looks calm, doesn’t it, benign, almost?

I DO love the starkness of these black volcanic beaches.

After AGES spent on this beach, we decided to go to El Golfo while we still had light, maybe even watch a sunset there?

Here’s our little hire car, with another ‘montana roja’ behind me.

On the way, we passed a place called ‘Los Hervidoras’. THAT was a mistake - to pass, I mean.

I did stop to take more pics of the sea crashing up the rocks, but little did I know just what we were missing.

More of that later

One last thing today - a quick trip to El Golfo, to see the famed green lagoon.

And here it is - in all it's weird glory!

We'd seen all the pictures, but when you see it for the first time, it really DOES look alien!

There were only a few people here today, so it was good for pictures.
We climbed over the volcanic path and descended to get close up and personal.

A panorama of the beach - click on it got a larger version.

Even the cliffs were an unusual red colour.

The small settlement of El Golfo, mainly here for tourists, with lots of restaurants, bars and cafes.
 A local told us of a possible pending change in the law, which would make many buildings that were too close to the sea in National parks illegal. If this was passed, ALL these buildings would have to go!

A pose for one of the few people we met to take our picture.

We relaxed in a small bar, hoping for one of El Golfo's famous sunsets. Alas, clouds rolled in, and the best we could do was a good set of crepuscular 'ray' pictures as the sun streaked through the cloud cover.

On the way back, we called at the salt flats.
The beach with the amazing waves was just over that rise.